Excuses
by Anna Nimmie Tee
Summary: What took Gourry so long to reunite with Lina after she and Amelia fled from three of Krotz's minions, leaving the swordsman alone with the villains in Book 5?
Lina and Amelia left Gourry to fight Vedur/Gilfa and Grouj in book 5. Gourry had told Lina the blood coming from his mouth was because he had bitten his tongue. True? He had taken a slash across his breastplate that was very deep and later in the fight was heavily knocked back across the ground. He didn't show up until much later and at the last minute to save Zelgadis. What really happened to him after Lina and Amelia left? Did he really get lost? Given what Lina's father had said to him, was he really hurt badly and needed to heal, but didn't want to tell Lina that?

Just playing around for fun with Kanzaka's characters as usual for my own amusement.

This was not a good situation. Gourry had given one of his rare lies to Lina, telling her the blood coming from his mouth was from biting his tongue. He knew his internal injuries were bad from the pain and the blood rising to his mouth. Although now sword-less, due to Gourry's superior skill, Vedur's strength made his fist strikes deadly enough, and Gilfa, wherever he was, had sneaky shadow magic. Lina had to be fooled in order to get her to flee. She had no powers because of Mazenda's curse and, while a good swordswoman, she would not have been able to take on Vedur, Gilfa, and now this Grouj. Amelia had to go with her to protect her. Gourry was very much alone with three deadly beings.

Remembering Lina's words to him and Zelgadis in the prelude to the defeat of Shabranigdo, he said to himself, "Ok. Fight to live and give Lina time to escape. We WILL see each other again."

Grouj advanced and raised his right hand. A beam of light emerged. "Huh!" grunted Gourry.

As Grouj swung his own sword of light, Gourry met it with his, and the enemy's sword shattered and dispersed. Vedur tried to flank Gourry to punch him again or grab him in a killing hold, but Gourry followed through his strike at Grouj and gave Vedur a blow across the back of his shoulders. A no longer giggling Gilfa screamed and began a scared babble.

Grouj, just getting used to the Zanafar armor, knew now he had to steer clear of Gourry's superior weapon, which had defeated his, Vedur's, and Gilfa's shadow blades. He backed off and yelled, "Retreat! It's the Sword of Light, you idiots! It's the one weapon that will defeat me! He's not our target! Mazenda will find and destroy the girl!"

Grouj grabbed Vedur by the cloth on his shoulder and yanked him towards the woods. Afraid the trio would catch up to Lina and Amelia, Gourry dashed after them.

Gilfa giggled, "Looks like we have a tag-a-long! We'll have to deal with him after all. It would be nice to get that Sword of Light for Krotz."

Gourry yelled, "You uglies want this? You'll have to catch me first!" and ran in a direction he hoped was opposite that of Lina and Amelia.

The villains ran after him but tired in a short while. Vedur had lost blood from the slash Gourry had given him, and Grouj was heavy with his armor. After evading them, Gourry stood still but with his senses scanning for a minute, listening to their retreat and wondered if the third had fled before them. To his relief, he sensed there were now three retreating, not just two. When he no longer felt the three evil presences, he turned and staggered in the direction of Mane. He hadn't gone far, when he spewed blood from his mouth and collapsed in extreme pain on the road. "Lina, I'm sorry! I hope whoever finds my body can somehow pass the Sword of Light on to you." he thought before passing out.

He awoke to find himself in a bed and naked from the waist up and with bandages encircling his torso. It hurt to breathe or raise his arms, but the pain was not as bad as it had been when he collapsed. His quiet moan as he made that discovery brought in a middle-aged woman, who immediately held to his lips a cup of a willow bark infusion.

"There, there, lad. You were in very poor shape. Stay still. Good thing we were coming home from market and had an empty cart to load you in when we found you collapsed in the road. I'm just a midwife with only a smattering of magical healing ability and didn't know if you'd make it. You had crushed ribs damaging your internal organs and have been unconscious for a few days." She shook her head and added, "You are one very sturdy and lucky young man and appear to respond quickly to healing spells."

"Thank you, Ma'am," he responded and then looked around in a panic. "Where's my sword?"

"Easy. Easy, young man. It's obvious you're a warrior and a polite one, at that." She gave a chuckle and informed him, "It's under the bed, but I'm afraid the hilt is broken from the blade, which is still inside the sheath."

Gourry gave his own much weaker chuckle, "It's supposed to detach. Please give the blade and hilt to me."

The women bent down to retrieve the hilt and the sword belt with the blade in its sheath. With a raised eyebrow she stared questioningly at the swordsman and handed everything to him. She then helped him rise to a semi-sitting position. Gourry painfully snapped the hilt and blade together and fell back on the stacked pillows in exhaustion. "See," he panted. "I have a pin that unlocks the blade when I need to."

"For cleaning blood off?" she asked with a puzzled look.

But Gourry didn't answer, for he had fallen asleep. Or at least seemed to have fallen asleep.

The midwife was right. He did respond rapidly to healing spells, more than anyone she had treated. After 8 days, he was on his feet and anxious to leave to find Lina and crew. Innately he knew Lina was ok, but didn't know where she was.

Neighbors had helped keep him well fed, or rather the neighbors' daughters, who wanted any excuse to visit the handsome invalid. The midwife and her husband were thankful to them, because they had three sons who also were ferocious eaters. Adding Gourry without any aid from neighbors would have meant a hungry winter.

After helping the couple's sons with some of their chores when he was fully recovered, Gourry stood quietly on a small, nearby hill with his eyes lowered. Feeling the sun on his face and slight wind gently lifting his hair, very slowly he turned around, letting his mind go blank and his special senses loose. The wind whispered to him. He focused and picked up the direction of Lina's astral signature. Lina was like a magnet to him now. He gave a sigh of relief to feel her pull.

Still, he felt a great sense of urgency. Thus he decided to leave that very day as soon as he had given his thanks to the family. Gourry knew originally Lina and company had been headed to Mane and mentioned it to the couple.

"We've heard strange things have been happening around there lately. The people have become suspicious and unfriendly," the farmer warned.

The wife added, "There's also been a suspicious fire that destroyed an inn in a village near Mane. It's rumored a strange cult set it to flush some red-headed sorceress out or either she herself set it afire in anger when the inn ran out of food. Be careful."

That was further confirmation to Gourry of the direction he must take. The couple refused any payment, but Gourry resolved to send them something when he could. He then took off at a slow jog down the road in the direction he felt the pull of his Lina. He also vowed not to tell her how badly he had been wounded, however nastily she might treat him. He did not want her to take on guilt for leaving him hurt and alone with the villains. It was bad enough he had sensed her worry when she and Amelia left.

He knew he had finally caught up to Lina and Amelia when he heard the explosions coming from a village ahead. To his surprise, Zelgadis was also fighting there. Judging by the type of enemy that he'd need the Sword of Light, Gourry quickly activated it and dashed in to save Zelgadis from a mortal blow.


End file.
